WHILE it might seem like a gamble to revisit hit movies with new faces, directors like Roar Uthaug and Alex Kurtzman have figured out the winning formula by roping in superstars like Tom Cruise and Alicia Vikander to play the leads in their upcoming remakes of The Mummy and Tomb Raider, respectively. We look at others who are pulling out all the stops to do justice to the actors they are replacing.

Naomi Watts
The remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s cult horror classic, The Birds, has been in the works for quite some time.
Tippi Hedren’s lead role, as the socialite Melanie Daniels, will be essayed by Watts.
The 48-year-old actress—who is currently spending time with her two sons after divorce from Liev Schreiber—is also shooting for a Netflix series,Gypsy. It remains to be seen when the shooting of The Birds’ remake will start. Last heard, Dutch filmmaker, Diederik Van Rooijen, will
be directing it.

Channing Tatum
Tatum is on a hot streak. After commendable performances in critically-acclaimed movies like The Hateful Eight (2015) and Hail, Caesar! (2016), the Step Up star has been cast in a Disney movie. Titled Splash, it is the remake of the original
Tom Hanks-starrer of the same name. But here’s the catch. Tatum will be playing a merman, as opposed to Daryl Hannah’s role as the mermaid in the 1984 movie. He will be accompanied by his 22 Jump Street co-star, Jillian Bell, who will reprise a female version of Hanks’ role.

Bradley Cooper
The American Sniper star has been given the green light by Warner Bros for his debut directorial venture, a remake of the 1937 movie, A Star Is Born. He will be reprising the role of Norman Maine (played by Fredric March in the original), a struggling movie star who helps launch the career of Janet Gaynor’s character, Esther Victoria Blodgett—to be played by none other than Lady Gaga. The Bad Romance singer will also compose songs for the movie, and looking at how good her recent album, Joanne, is, we can expect a sterling soundtrack.

Bruce Willis
Willis is known to play high-octane characters, a la John McClane in Die Hard or the CIA agent Church in Expendables 2. But perhaps his most challenging role awaits in the upcoming remake of Death Wish (1974)—a story of a revenge-hungry husband hitting the streets to locate the criminals who assaulted his family. He will be reprising the role of Paul Kersey, played by the legendary Charles Bronson. The remake—which is also based on the 1972 novel of the same name by Brian Garfield—will be directed by Hostel director, Eli Roth.

Michael Ealy
Get ready for a supernatural ride when the remake of the 1990-cult psychological horror movie, Jacob’s Ladder, hits theatres. Tim Robbins had portrayed the character of Jacob (a field veteran suffering from post-war hallucinations) rather convincingly and his role will be re-essayed by Ealy (think The Perfect Guy). Directed by David M Rosenthal, the movie will also star Karla Souza and Jesse Williams.